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From: mjs14@vaxk.bton.ac.uk
Subject: Re: Is Common Sense Explicit or Implicit?
Message-ID: <1994Sep1.115848.20788@unix.brighton.ac.uk>
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References: <Cuop3p.3uL@curia.ucc.ie> <push-170894171622@mind.mit.edu> <32vpc4$6ih@ux.cs.niu.edu> <3304dt$fuv@orion.inf.ethz.ch> <338j5o$s8v@nic.scruz.net>,<Cv04xn.7FE@aisb.ed.ac.uk> <1994Aug24.105346.24130@unix.brighton.ac.uk>,<33fuiq$25i@ux.cs.niu.edu> <1994Aug30.121130.9171@unix.brighton.ac.uk>
Date: Thu, 1 Sep 1994 11:58:48 GMT
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Xref: glinda.oz.cs.cmu.edu comp.ai:24034 comp.ai.philosophy:20254

>>In article <33fuiq$25i@ux.cs.niu.edu>, rickert@cs.niu.edu (Neil Rickert) writes:
>>>Where is the evidence that natural language can work from a digitally
>>>organized dictionary?

>In <1994Aug30.121130.9171@unix.brighton.ac.uk> mjs14@vaxk.bton.ac.uk writes:
>>Surely the word "grass" is either in my dictionary, or it isn't.
>>What could be more digital than that??

In article <33vub0$5ai@mp.cs.niu.edu>, rickert@cs.niu.edu (Neil Rickert) writes:
>What it amounts to is that, in your imagination, you are creating
>a formal model which includes a dictionary.  You are also creating
>an explanation based on that model.  According to your formal model
>there is a dictionary, and your explanation uses that dictionary.
>The question remains -- does what actually happens inside you head
>correspond to your model and your explanation?

OK.  I take your point.
What, though, if I were to re-word my original question?
'Surely the word "grass" is either in my brain, or it isn't."

Would it be fair to say natural language is a digital/quantised system now?

(I wonder if it is relevent that I could claim that I have a 73.5126%
grasp of a word, like "mither", as well as having a 100% grasp of the
word "and", and a 0% grasp of the word "xorumpling".  That is, I wonder
if this is a way out of my claim that word acquisition is black/white).

Malcolm SHUTE.        (The AM Mollusc: v_@_ )        Disclaimer: all
